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AQA A level English lit B COURSEWORK: novels through feminist/Marxist lenses

Hey! Calling all people who've done or are doing lit A level, just wondering if you have any recommendations of texts which are good to study, especially through feminist/Marxist lenses?
We've been told to pick texts that aren't too literal/obvious eg 1984 with Marxist.
Something vaguely modern (19th century onwards) and vaguely short would be good.
Thank you! :smile:
Reply 1
Hey just bouncing this post! Still don't know what to do for coursework...:/
Reply 2
bump? lol
Reply 3
If you are going to be focusing on class structures in regards to Marxism then you could do the Great Gatsby - its relatively short. Or, possible Animal Farm(Revolution and class inequality) or Of mice and men (American dream for low social class workers who are migrants)- both short.Feminism maybe Jane Eyre- though this is long, The bloody chamber (but this is a collection of short stories), or maybe the colour purple?

It depends on what your focus is?
(edited 4 years ago)
Reply 4
Original post by Kayles08
If you are going to be focusing on class structures in regards to Marxism then you could do the Great Gatsby - its relatively short. Or, possible Animal Farm(Revolution and class inequality) or Of mice and men (American dream for low social class workers who are migrants)- both short.Feminism maybe Jane Eyre- though this is long, The bloody chamber (but this is a collection of short stories), or maybe the colour purple?

It depends on what your focus is?

Thanks for the reply! I think we can choose to focus on whatever aspects of feminism/Marxism we want. There's a critical anthology setting out the basics of each and then as long as we bring in concepts from it the question choice is up to us.
Sadly Gatsby is already on the spec so I can't do that :/ and our teacher says we're not allowed to do Orwell bc he's too obviously critiquing Marxism/communism. But great ideas!
Yesss I love of mice and men idk if it's 'too gcse' though if you get me?? What do you reckon? Do you know any other similar Steinbecks that aren't so widely done for GCSE?
Yes Jane Eyre would be a good choice (need to read it tho aha)
And ooo I'm interested in the bloody chamber, have you read it? I think it would definitely be very feminist tho - idk how much like to what extent is this feminist? there would be. But could be good. Same kinda thing with the colour purple. But I guess if I brought in a particular focus maybe it would be ok??
Reply 5
Original post by xxxooo
Thanks for the reply! I think we can choose to focus on whatever aspects of feminism/Marxism we want. There's a critical anthology setting out the basics of each and then as long as we bring in concepts from it the question choice is up to us.
Sadly Gatsby is already on the spec so I can't do that :/ and our teacher says we're not allowed to do Orwell bc he's too obviously critiquing Marxism/communism. But great ideas!
Yesss I love of mice and men idk if it's 'too gcse' though if you get me?? What do you reckon? Do you know any other similar Steinbecks that aren't so widely done for GCSE?
Yes Jane Eyre would be a good choice (need to read it tho aha)
And ooo I'm interested in the bloody chamber, have you read it? I think it would definitely be very feminist tho - idk how much like to what extent is this feminist? there would be. But could be good. Same kinda thing with the colour purple. But I guess if I brought in a particular focus maybe it would be ok??

I suppose of mice and men may be considered too GCSE you could do Great Expectations by Dickens? there is a lot of focus on class (though the novel is a little long) but it has the criminal class, low working class and the upper classes throughout that are easy to critique. Plus, Dickens was renowned for his social critiques, particularly to those in the upper classes who saw themselves above everyone else. Great Expectations would also be preferable over Of mice and men and even his own work of A Christmas Carol (again too GCSE).

The Bloody Chamber is a good choice if you are able to pick out why she has changed the stories from their original format- she has used a lot of fairy tales and given the women more agency compared to the original stories and of course is much more violent and sexual (this is a point easily argued for and against feminism depending on your scope) However, if you did this you may need to familiarise yourself with the original fairy tales/and the 'disneyfied' ones in order to compare them to this.
The Colour Purple could work if you went into enough depth but if you're worried about it feeling too GSCE or not feminist enough then you may need to read longer novels instead (like Jane Eyre which is almost obviously feminist).
(edited 4 years ago)
Reply 6
Original post by Kayles08
I suppose of mice and men may be considered too GCSE you could do Great Expectations by Dickens? there is a lot of focus on class (though the novel is a little long) but it has the criminal class, low working class and the upper classes throughout that are easy to critique. Plus, Dickens was renowned for his social critiques, particularly to those in the upper classes who saw themselves above everyone else. Great Expectations would also be preferable over Of mice and men and even his own work of A Christmas Carol (again too GCSE).

The Bloody Chamber is a good choice if you are able to pick out why she has changed the stories from their original format- she has used a lot of fairy tales and given the women more agency compared to the original stories and of course is much more violent and sexual (this is a point easily argued for and against feminism depending on your scope) However, if you did this you may need to familiarise yourself with the original fairy tales/and the 'disneyfied' ones in order to compare them to this.
The Colour Purple could work if you went into enough depth but if you're worried about it feeling too GSCE or not feminist enough then you may need to read longer novels instead (like Jane Eyre which is almost obviously feminist).

Ah ok thanks so much! Dickens is a good shout, and great expectations sounds like a good one with the extra intricacies, thanks! And yesss that sounds really interesting about the bloody chamber, I love stuff like that! I'll definitely check it out! Yeh I'm sure I could write something about the colour purple if I tried, thanks. And yeh good idea re longer novels and Jane Eyre. :smile:
Reply 7
your

Original post by xxxooo
Ah ok thanks so much! Dickens is a good shout, and great expectations sounds like a good one with the extra intricacies, thanks! And yesss that sounds really interesting about the bloody chamber, I love stuff like that! I'll definitely check it out! Yeh I'm sure I could write something about the colour purple if I tried, thanks. And yeh good idea re longer novels and Jane Eyre. :smile:

You're welcome! If you need any other ideas then just shout (Pride and Prejudice could be an alternative to Jane Eyre btw) but good luck with your studies :smile:
Reply 8
Original post by Kayles08
your


You're welcome! If you need any other ideas then just shout (Pride and Prejudice could be an alternative to Jane Eyre btw) but good luck with your studies :smile:

Thanks so much! vv kind! and yessss I'll check pride and prejudice out too :smile:

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